THE ECHOLOCATION CHAMBER   ⏱09:59

can humans learn to echolocate? the hostile media effect, the spread of fake news on twitter & whether brain chemicals predict maths education

episode #12, 18th June 2021 #echolocation #fakenews #bias #MRS #GABA   image source

  ⇦ listen here   ⏱09:59


  ⇨ transcript here


our main brain stories this episode...

AN APOLOGY

in episode #11 we referred to a study on brain imaging during football penalty taking using some quite strong language. following a complaint, we apologise & accept that the language used should have been much stronger   [read more...]

this story was in episode #12. #apology #football #penalty #choke #balls


HUMANS LEARN ECHOLOCATION

humans can learn to discriminate the sizes & orientations of nearby objects by making clicking noises with their mouths & listening to the echoes. it takes many hours of training, but performance can be remarkably good   [read more...]

this story was in episode #12. original article: Norman et al., 2021 (Public Library of Science ONE), reported in: The Daily Mail by Sam Tonkin on 2nd June 2021 #bat #echo #sound #perception #blindness

rating: The Daily Mail: fact - scientific story reported well  


NEWS IS BIASED IN PRINT & FAKE ONLINE

two papers report on the perception of bias in news media & the sharing of fake news on twitter. while people are biased & rapidly share fake news, bias can be reduced & people also share fake news corrections   [read more...]

this story was in episode #12. original articles: Litovsky, 2021 (Public Library of Science ONE), Murayama et al., 2021 (Public Library of Science ONE), #fakenews #twitter #bias #hostile #media

rating:


BRAIN CHEMICALS PREDICT MATHS CHOICE

a study of students who choose to study maths finds weak relationships with one of eight brain chemicals measured, having excluded lots of different kinds of data in many different ways. the effects in younger students were not replicated   [read more...]

this story was in episode #12. original article: Zacharopoulos et al., 2021 (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America), reported in: Irish News on 9th June 2021 & The Daily Mail by Sam Tonkin on 7th June 2021 & The Guardian by Sally Weale on 7th June 2021 #brain #maths #education #QRP

ratings: Irish News: fudge - scientific story distorted   The Daily Mail: fair - scientific story mostly intact   The Guardian: fair - scientific story mostly intact